Thus, the first season comes to its conclusion. Luckily, it is allowed to end on a high note as this episode really was a blast to watch.
The first third of the episode is essentially a giant fist fight between Luke and Diamondback. That's not a bad thing in the slightest. Seeing two super-strong, nigh invulnerable dudes beating the crap out of each other is oddly satisfying.
It is interspersed with flashbacks showing Carl and Willis in their youth. Truth be told, I would have liked to see more of those peppered throughout the latter half of the season. It made for a nice parallel here, but I think it could have made their falling out that much more tragic. The fact that they were close was given lip service, but seeing it first hand allows it to pack more of a punch.
Admittedly, the fight does start to veer into "Rocky V" territory in the second half. The crowd gathering around and going "OOOH!" after every hit got a little grating, though I suppose most people would do that in that situation. The resolution even echoes the "I didn't hear no bell" bit from the aforementioned movie. Still, you can hardly say it was anti-climactic, as that was one of the larger scaled fight sequences for the Netflix shows to date.
I do wonder why it never occurred to Luke to attack the glowing gadget on Diamondback's...back. It seemed like the obvious weak point, but his strategy to just let the thing drain itself of power also worked. It also made for some symbolism about hate or something.
Honestly, the line wasn't that bad, though it did still sound a bit odd, all things considered. It didn't work nearly as well as Luke's later speech in the police station. In lesser hands, I have no doubt that that same monologue would elicit groans and eye-rolls from viewers, but credit to Colter, he sold it.
You'd expect the wrap up to have Luke exonerated and Mariah put away. It seems like that's where it's going, but much like with Luke against Diamondback, Mariah is able to turn the tables at the last second and regain the advantage.
I think this episode gave Woodard the most to work with as she was in rare form, especially in her interrogation scene with Misty. While seeing the villain skirt justice may not be the most satisfying ending, it sure was fun and fascinating to watch, largely in part due to Woodard's performance.
The one upside to Luke being in prison is that it lays at least some groundwork for the big team up. Claire makes not one, but two references to the fact that she knows a lawyer and says that she'll get him to help. When I read that the series ended with Luke in prison, I kind of figured that's how they were going to play it, but it will still be fun to see that go down.
Iron Fist also gets a bit of a tease as we see Claire rip a tab off a telephone pole ad for a martial arts school. You can clearly see the name "Colleen Wing" on said ad. Granted, I don't know who the character is, but I do know that she's affiliated with Iron Fist, so I still saw what they were doing, and it worked.
The return of the club performance/montage trick also worked well. While it was frequently done early on in the show, we hadn't seen it used for quite a while and it worked to the sequence's favor. It's a nice move, but one that's best used sparingly (as I said from the beginning.) The fact that the musical performance itself was rather impressive in its own right also benefited the sequence and made it more fun.
While the episode runs short, at only 45 minutes, it was still well paced and didn't waste any time. It wrapped things up, and never felt rushed, but still left enough open for the second season.
We do know that a second season is coming, though I don't know when. It probably won't be until 2018, and that would be at the earliest. At least we'll see Luke in action in "Defenders" so that should hold fans over for a little while.
Before that, though, there's Iron Fist. Won't have to wait too long for that one, thankfully. I'm looking forward to seeing that. Considering Luke and Iron Fist are besties in the comic, I do wonder if the producers will save time and money and just do a single season of "Luke Cage and Iron Fist" Either that or they could go the Arrowverse route and have a crossover episode every once in a while. Who knows? The possibilities are endless.
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